Only 7 out of 37 States in Nigeria has fully Implemented Contributory Pension Scheme – PenCom.

Most states across the six geopolitical zones in the country are yet to fully implement the Federal Government’s Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS), a report by the National Pension Commission (PENCOM) has revealed.

According to the report made available to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday, only six states and the FCT had fully implemented CPS with regular and up-to-date remittance of pension contributions, establishment of pension bureau and enactment of pension law.

The report, signed by PenCom’s Spokesman, Peter Aghohowa, said that the six states which had fully implemented the CPS as at September 2019 were Kaduna, Anambra, Ekiti, Ondo, Edo and Delta.

In the North-Cenral Zone, only FCT had established pension bureau and was up-to-date with remittance of pension contributions, while Benue, Kogi and Nasarawa which had enacted CPS laws had no pension bureaus in place.

Although Niger established pension bureau, it suspended implementation of the CPS in April 2015 and had since stopped remitting pension contributions, while Kwara and Plateau were yet to enact CPS law.

Five states in the North-East zone, comprising Borno, Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe and Taraba, were yet to commence remittance of pension contributions while Yobe was still operating Defined Benefits Scheme.

Also in North-East Zone, only Adamawa, Gombe and Taraba had enacted CPS laws but none was yet to establish pension bureau.

In the North-West Zone, only Kaduna had fully implemented CPS with regular and up-to-date remittance of pension contributions, establishment of pension bureau, registration of employees with PFAs and consistent funding of accrued rights with 5% of total monthly bill.

Of all the North-West states, only Katsina neither enacted CPS law nor established pension bureau, while Jigawa and Kebbi which had pension bureaus, were only remitting portions of the pension contributions.

Kano without a pension board was deducting pension contributions under the management of the board of trustees and yet to transfer the pension asset to a licensed pension operator.

In the South-East Zone, PenCom reports that except for Anambra which was fully complying with the implementation of the CPS scheme, others such as Abia, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo had not keyed into the scheme.

The Commission said that in the South-West zone, Ekiti and Ondo were remitting pension contributions, Ogun and Osun had huge backlogs, Lagos did not provide information on its remittance, while Oyo was yet to commence remittance of pension contributions.

According to PenCom, all the South West States have, however, enacted CPS laws and established pensions bureaus.

In the South-South, Edo and Delta were up-to-date in their pension contributions, while Rivers and Bayelsa were yet to commence remittance of pension contributions.

In Rivers, contributions made under the repealed law were being refunded to exempted employees, while Akwa Ibom and Cross River did not even have a CPS law in place.

PenCom stated that it did not release the report to undermine or embarrass any state but to intimate employees on the status of their state in terms of their pension contributions.

“With the information provided, workers can hold their states to do the needful in terms of paying their pension up-to-date to guarantee and protect their retirement,” he said.

According to him, the commission will continue to dialogue with the states to do the needful, as the law that established PenCom does not empower it to enforce the implementation on the states.